Panaji, Three days after a three-year-old girl was allegedly raped in North Goa’s Mapusa town, the state police have achieved a breakthrough, arresting a man hailing from Karnataka who was found hiding in Panaji, an official said on Wednesday.
Police had launched an investigation to trace the accused following the complaint. The accused, in his mid-20s and a native of Bihar, was arrested soon after the incident was reported. The arrest comes amid another incident of alleged rape of a four-year-old girl in Canacona taluka of Kushavati district. The police have arrested a Bihar native in connection with the second case. The accused allegedly took the girl to an abandoned building and raped her. The incident had taken place on Diwali night, triggering concern over the safety of children in the coastal state. In another incident, a four-year-old girl was allegedly raped at Shristhal village in the Canacona taluka of Kushavati district late Tuesday night.
In the Mapusa case, the victim, daughter of a balloon seller, was found crying on Sunday evening outside a building near a taxi stand in the town, 9 km from Panaji, after she was allegedly raped by an unidentified person, according to police.
The police have arrested Pundalik Gudge, a native of Dharwad district in Karnataka, in connection with the case, Mapusa Police Inspector Anant Gaonkar told reporters. He was subsequently traced and arrested after being found hiding in Panaji city, Gaonkar said. He had arrived in Goa just two days before the incident and was working at a local bakery, police said.
